Zion’s Landmark
9
»S¥OTgB TB THS BSFHSS flF THI MlllfllS B4PT1STS.
“TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY.”
I
Vol. ix-No. 9.
Wilson, N. C., March 15, 1876.
Whole No. 201.
Zion’s Landmark.
By the help of tlie Lord, this paper will
aontend for the ancient landmark, guided by
its stakes of truth,and strengthened by its cords
thi loee.
It hoijefi to reject all traditions and
XuaTiTUTiONS OF MEN, and regard only the
BIBLE AS THE STANDARD of TRUTH.
It urges people to search the scriptures and
obey Jesus a.s tho only King in the holy hill
of Zion, keeping themselves unspotted from
the world.
It aims to contend for the mystery of the
faith in God and die Fathir, Jesu.sthe Medi
ator, and the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Com
forter.
All lovers of gospel truth are invited to
write for it—if so impres.sed.
May grace, mercy and peace, be multiplied
to all lovers of Jasus.
Dear Brother Gold:—
AVhat is naan in this nineteenth
jentury that we should be mindful of
him, ©r what his views of equity and
justice that we should follow him ?—
Look at Adam in the garden, and be-
.hold man now under the law of sin
and death with his conceptions of eq
uity and justice, based on his oivn
"’^4>elfishT^p!^-f>oi.l*^uh-est, with liis|r).ei
even turned on empty space, Snd
seeking his honor in the practice of the
religious world resting on man’s own
intere.st and selfishness. That society
Ls held together by such virtue, equi
ty and justice at this time is a mys
tery to the upright in heart
and soul. Man in tlie garden was
upright and pronounced very good by
his Creator that gave him the law.—
Adam violated it and fell and brought
sin and death and condemnation up
on himself and all his posterity —
Thus it was written, by man came
sin, and sin is a violation of the law,
which drove Adam out of the garden
of paradi.se—regardless of his works
of fig leaf apron-making which could
not hide his nakedness. And now,
man, being under the law of sin and
death, thinks by his wisdom and
good works to render satisfaction to a
transgressed law and get to heaven
regardless of equity and justice to
God’s law. Such equity and justice to
law would overturn and set at
naught God and ail that is God-line
in the world ; because the law is holy,
and man is unholy. The law is like
■? the lawgiver, infinite. Man is finite
and not able to make an infinite sac
rifice. Justice requires that every
jot and tittle of the law shall be fulfill
ed. Reader, take heed where you
stand : yon may be fighting against
God. Remember, God is under no
obligations to any of Adam’s race,
and by his law you are already con
demned to death—eternal death un
less God’s mercy and grace pluck
you as a bi*and from eternal woe.—
Oh I what is man, dead in trespass
es and sims, that we should be mind-
&1 of him tn* adt^t' his views wf wis
dom, of righteousness; his notions
of justice contrary to law and testi
mony, who works himself into the
church to make gain of godliness—
to trade and traffic in religion as an
article of commerce and to make mer
chandise ot the saints? What bene
fit, O man ! will it be to society or to
yon if you vvere to gain the whole
world and lose your own soul? It
could not make a sacrifice for your
soul nor redeem your brother from
death and hell. You are like all of
Adam’s race, shut up under the law,
in the pri.son-house of sin and death,
or the lock of seven seals, and when
search was made in heaven and in
earth and under the earth, none was
found able to unloose the seals and
read thereon. Sad tidings to a lost
and ruined world of sinners! All
gone astray. All mined and undone.
Reader, have yon kept every jot
and every tittle of God’s law holy ?
If not, it demands payment; and as
Adam was driven out of Eden for one
sin, canyon, who are guilty of many,
exjxjct to escape the vengeance and
pendty of the law ?
M justice ai)d purity
GoosTholyNijf'v ! Itcaii’t look oil
with any allowance. It is infivl
and mast he fulfilled. Sad truth in
deed to poor lost and ruined sinners !
Man has sought out many inventions
in this nineteenth c'litury to get to
heaven by such as world’s conven
tions, Baptist State convention.s, mis
sionary and tract societies, foreign
and home mission societies, bihle so
cieties and siinday-scliool union soci
eties as hand-maids to the church of
Christ who said, my kingdom is not
of this world, together with the insti
tutions of learning as co-laborers and
co-helpers, and think to be able to
unloose the seals, evangelize the world
and convert sinners to God and eter
nal rest. But none was found able to
unloose the seals of death and hell,
and John wept, and the angel of the
Lord said unto him, weep not, for the
Lion of the tribe of Juda hath pre
vailed to unloose the seals, &o. Read
for yourselves the glorious news to a
ruined world of sinners. The kind’s
O
highway of holiness was to be opened
up for sin and uncleanness to the
house of David. For unto you this
day is born in Bethlehem Judah a
prince and Savior (the lion) made of
a woman, made under the law to he
a sacrifice to redeem (his bride) lost
and ruined man from under its curse,
and to purify unto himself a peculiar
people zealous of good works, which
God before ordained that we (the
Church) should walk in them. Hence
it was written ** That burnt offerings
and .sacrifices thou wouldst not, but a
body thou hast prepared me;” and
lo ! t have eorae in the volume of the
Book, as it is written of me, to do
thy will, O God ! Jesus looked and
found none to help and said, Mine
own arm brought salvation down.
He came into the world to save
sinners, and he is the way, the
truth and the life, and no man can
cxmie unto me except the Father
who sent me draw him, and I will
raise him up again, &c. (He does
not .say 1 &c. will raise him up again.)
He laid down his life for his bride
(the Church), had power to lay it
down and power to take it up again.
He paid the ransom price (his blood)
for her (the Church) on the Cross,
said, “ It is finished !” and was bur
ied for them—(the Bihle no where
tell us that co-helpers and modern
Babel buildei’s helped to bear the
Cross)—and rose again from the dead
for their justification.
Now, in modern times, learned
’Doctors and others have volunteered
to help God with all their institutions,
ways and means, to save ninners, the
Bride—the Lamb’s wife—which work
Jesus finished over eighteen hundred
years ago. .It may seem right unto
itliem bat the Bihle tells ns and them,
(“There is a way that seems right
junto a man, but the end thereof are
N^iys of death.” But, flyy not
orklng men, remind us of orre
went to Jesns and said, “Goo(j|Mas-
ter, what shall I do to do the works
of God ?” Je.5iis said, “ This is the
work of God, to believe on him
whom he hath sent.” This Bible
doctrine clearly proves to every live
man in Christ Jesus that the Mis
sionary institutions, their ways, means
and instrumentalities are foolishness
with God, and .lever will convert a
sinner savingly to believe in God our
Savior. Reader, you may ask why ;
and the answer is, “ Because it is the
power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth.” The Missiona
ries run well—who hinders them?
Surely the ignorant Primitive Bap
tists do not, for they are satisfied
with, and believe in Jesus and what
he has done, and believe he has done
all things well. They therefore
take the written word in the
^ scriptures as a rule of faith and prac
tice, discarding all others to perish
with the using. Are we therefore
your enemies because we tell you the
truth? We, as honest men (sinners),
believe that we are saved by grace
through faith, and that not of our
selves, it is the gift Of God, not of
works lest any man should boast;
and bear testimony with the proph
ets and Christ’s apostles, “ that salva
tion is of the l(0rd and that there is
no other name given v’hOreby sin
ners can be saved,” only in Jesus in
whom we trust for life and eternal
salvation. Therefore, in love and
obedience #e follow our Lord Jesus,
believing in one Lord, one faith, and
one baptism, discarding all lords
many, faiths many, and baptisms
many, which belong to MrA. Babylon
and her liarlots, who deny the way,
the truth and tho life,” and set up
their human wisdom, human learn
ing and their instrumentalities in 0|>-
position to Christ’s kingdom set «p
in the world. Christ taught man
that he must he horn again. Whv?
Because he said, “ My kingdom is
not of this world ; it is spiritual and
not carnal, and the cariial mind dis-
cerneth not the things of the Spirit,
neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. Everv
child horn of the Spirit believes ami
bears testimony that Jesus is, tho
Christ, the only way, the truth and
the life of his Church, collectively
and individually—and all other ways
lead to death.
I have written what I believe, and
will close by saying to all in or out
of Babylon, If God be God follow
him, but if Baal, then follow him.—
May God, the Father of our Lord
Jesus, g.ve us grace to understand
the truth that we all may be able to
lay aside every weight and the sin
that doth so easily beset us, &c.
Wm. 'Ij'HIGPBN.
-y>-
and Rigiily ©steeraed
;pen belongs t^ a genera
tion that sleep with their fatherH,
save one, now and then, who sur
vives. He remembers the days of
old when such men as Elder Joshua
Lawrence preached, and is of the
same County.
Brother Thigpen’a long and faith
ful life as a Baptist, and his wortlij
example, have given him a warm
place in the fellowship and esteem of
ids brethren. But he would not de
sire such esteem unless the Lord
would give it to him. “ And he shall
be as a tree planted by the rivers of
water, that hringeth forth his fruit in
Ids season ; his leaf also shall not
wither; and, whatsoever he dheth
shall prosper.”—Ed.
Jackson, Tennessee, Jan. 31, 1876.
Dear Brother Gold, and Brethren^and
Sisters everywhere:—
A new year has rolled around upon
us and one closed forever; and, do
we love him, who worketh all thingn
after the counsel of his ow'tl will, and
worketh all things together for good
in the accomplishment of his own
eternal purposes. In the affairs of
indivinuals and of nations we are not
blind to the fact that Gol has been
directing the course of events in the
fulfillment of his own designs coti
cerning the destiny of our common
world, and the unfolding and estab
lishing of his own glory among naen,
although we have not been able to
see and regard these events in all
their bearings just aS God sees and
regards them. But, while it is true
that the ways of providence in njaoy
respects are incoriiprehensible to ti.y;
yet, we know that the earth is the
Lord’s, and the fulness thereof, the
world and they that dwell therein;
that our rulers’ hearts are in the